Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Perennial Ageratum

Several years ago, my cousin Jeana in Indiana gave me some perennial ageratum from her garden. They are about a foot tall, taller than the annual variety. And they are blooming now.

I have a fall garden, and these ageratums are a welcome addition of color in my flowerbeds. They perfectly match a short aster in one of bed, so i've put them close together. A yellow mum from last year actually survived! Luckily it is growing near another clump of ageratum. Nice color combination!

Today i am visiting a new hospice client because her usual volunteer is away for a couple of weeks. The hospice coordinator tells me this 92-year-old woman is taking her failing body in stride. A couple of months ago, she was found on the floor where she'd been for 28 hours. When asked why she didn't use the Lifeline hanging around her neck, she said that she didn't want to bother anyone.

A person like this, who doesn't complain, who appears calm despite her failing body, this is what i call blooming in the autumn of life. An ageratum in disguise.

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About Me

Cheryl teaches at Vermont Insight Meditation Center and spends as much time in the garden as she can.
Cheryl discovered gardening the same year she attended her first retreat at Insight Meditation Society in 1977.
She has a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Antioch New England, with a concentration in Mindfulness and completed an internship with Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. She became a Master Gardener in 1999.
Cheryl graduated from the Community Dharma Leader program, sponsored by Spirit Rock Meditation Center and from the Integrated Study and Practice Program at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
Cheryl is also the author of Following the Nez Perce Trail: A Guide to the Nee-Me-Poo National Historic Trail with eye-witness accounts, 2nd edition.